Firefighters scrambled to rescue a woman driver injured in a collision at the rain-sodden scene of an earlier crash that toppled a powerpole on SH2 near Masterton.
Masterton station officer Doug Flowerday said the young woman driver received a minor head injury after she rear-ended a 4x4 vehicle about about3.30pm yesterday on SH2 near the intersection with West Taratahi Rd.
The woman struck a roadside sign and came within metres of a firefighter as she steered the car from the road. Her vehicle was extensively damaged in the collision. The occupants of the 4X4 were uninjured.
The crash happened at the same location where about 40 minutes earlier, a male driver had lost control of his utility vehicle, which was towing a skid-steer loader on a trailer.
The ute and trailer had slid in wet grass at the roadside for several metres before colliding with a concrete powerpole, which snapped in half on impact and toppled on to the rear of the vehicle.
The utility vehicle received significant damage in the crash and the trailer and skidsteer were slammed sideways through a roadside fence, with the earthmoving machine coming to rest on its side.
Senior Constable Harvey Pope said the male driver had escaped injury in the crash and along with firefighters and an ambulance, there had been a police photographer at the scene as part of an investigation in to the cause of the crash.
The scene was strewn with a tangle of high voltage lines brought down in the crash.
Traffic was detoured after the second collision, Mr Flowerday said, which highlighted the danger motorists and emergency workers face at crash scenes.
"We get it so often when we're working at the roadside and busy," he said.
"It shows the dangers for the public and emergency workers, especially in those conditions with a slick road and poor visibility."
Mr Flowerday said the male driver involved in the first collision had been lucky to escape injury and the woman was fortunate her injuries were not worse.
